Pass Over
Published by Grove Atlantic
A startling play examining the cyclical ravages of racial injustice and violence on two young black men, by an extraordinary voice in American theater.
Moses and Kitch stand around on the corner—talking shit, passing the time, and hoping that maybe today will be different. As they dream of their promised land, a stranger wanders into their space with his own agenda and derails their plans. Emotional and lyrical, Pass Over crafts everyday profanities into poetic and humorous riffs, exposing the unquestionable human spirit of young men stuck in a cycle that they are desperately trying to escape. Spike Lee directed a film version of the play that premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and South by Southwest, and was produced by Amazon Studios. A provocative riff on the Book of Exodus and Waiting for Godot, Pass Over is a remarkable work of politically-charged theater by a bold new American voice.
Praise for Pass Over
“Searing. . . . Blazingly theatrical. . . . Moses and Kitch are a dispossessed team like [Beckett’s] Vladimir and Estragon, stuck in an existential cycle of hopelessness they try to master with gallows humor and jags of deluded optimism. . . . Creates a vivid world of injustice while riffing on earlier. . . . Resonates as a powerful tragedy.” ―New York Time
“Chilling. . . . Combines daring near-experimental form and brutal content: what’s at work is not some mysterious cosmic existentialism à la Beckett, but very real, very tangible racism.” ―New Yorker
“In the insanity of a city filled with guns, and people ready and willing to use them whenever temperatures rise, waiting isn’t so much a malaise as a badge of survival. That’s one of the takeaways of Antoinette Nwandu’s Pass Over, a very potent and promising play. . . . The language in the work is thrilling, poetical.” ―Chicago Tribune
Moses and Kitch stand around on the corner—talking shit, passing the time, and hoping that maybe today will be different. As they dream of their promised land, a stranger wanders into their space with his own agenda and derails their plans. Emotional and lyrical, Pass Over crafts everyday profanities into poetic and humorous riffs, exposing the unquestionable human spirit of young men stuck in a cycle that they are desperately trying to escape. Spike Lee directed a film version of the play that premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and South by Southwest, and was produced by Amazon Studios. A provocative riff on the Book of Exodus and Waiting for Godot, Pass Over is a remarkable work of politically-charged theater by a bold new American voice.
Praise for Pass Over
“Searing. . . . Blazingly theatrical. . . . Moses and Kitch are a dispossessed team like [Beckett’s] Vladimir and Estragon, stuck in an existential cycle of hopelessness they try to master with gallows humor and jags of deluded optimism. . . . Creates a vivid world of injustice while riffing on earlier. . . . Resonates as a powerful tragedy.” ―New York Time
“Chilling. . . . Combines daring near-experimental form and brutal content: what’s at work is not some mysterious cosmic existentialism à la Beckett, but very real, very tangible racism.” ―New Yorker
“In the insanity of a city filled with guns, and people ready and willing to use them whenever temperatures rise, waiting isn’t so much a malaise as a badge of survival. That’s one of the takeaways of Antoinette Nwandu’s Pass Over, a very potent and promising play. . . . The language in the work is thrilling, poetical.” ―Chicago Tribune
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